Big Reinventions That Worked

[FanboyStranger]

I know this may upset some people, but I think Bendis actually did a great job reworking Luke Cage. I spent the '90s arguing that Luke Cage should have been big time as hip hop essentially became the mainstream and the notion of neighborhood as community became commonplace in popular culture, but other than John Ostrander doing some interesting things with the character in his H4H series, Cage was treated as an outdated joke.

Brubaker and Fraction did something similar with Iron Fist that I think has worked well.

Frank Miller and Daredevil, obviously. Pre-Miller DD is mostly just remembered for Gene Colan and Wally Wood art.

Peter David reworking X-Factor twice to great effect. (We'll see on the third attempt.)

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Hulk's transformation having something to do with rage / anger, which I've heard was first introduced in the TV show, and then brought over to the comics.

The anger/rage trigger was first introduced way, WAY back in the mid 1960's in Tales to Astonish #60 by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko. It also had the Hulk reverting back to Banner when under a "heavy strain", which was dropped a few issues later.

[Myetche]

Carol Danvers, having gone from "that nameless chick Rogue sucked the powers from" to one of the heaviest hitters on the Avengers thanks to some much-needed writers' attention and reinvention. She's not quite A-list yet, but Carol's in a much better standing now than ever before.

[CJStriker]

Always Loved Kurk Busiek's Evolution of Wanda Maximoff, Scarlet Witch's into a Chaos Magic User in Avengers Volume 3!

[Sutekh]

I know this may upset some people, but I think Bendis actually did a great job reworking Luke Cage.

I am very much not a Bendis fan, and yet I totally agree. He did *great* things for both Luke Cage and Jessica Drew, pulling them back out and making them relevant again.

I'm not sure how much he 'reinvented' those characters, so much as pulled them out of the forgotten characters box, dusted them off and modernized them a tad, 'though. (Which is still awesome. Marvel has a ton of great toys in that box, waiting to be played with.)

What he did with the Hood might be more accurately termed a reinvention.

[FlashingSabre]

Rich Rider becoming the last Nova (kind of).
The Original Thunderbolts, specifically Songbird and Mach V.
Iron Man losing the Gold Bucket Armor.
Bucky Barnes as Winter Soldier.
Flash Thompson as Agent Venom.
Kaine as Scarlett Spider.
Falcon in the Winter Soldier Movie.
Hawkeye, Scarlett Witch, and Quicksilver as Avengers.
Beast as furry and blue.
Angel as Archangel.
Iceman as an Omega-Level Mutant.
Groot as an Alien Warlord.

[jazzflower92]

I think Loki's interpretations in the movies has made him from a villain people only talked about if they were fans of Marvel comics to one of the most popular characters in the MCU franchise.

[jphamlore]

I think Loki's interpretations in the movies has made him from a villain people only talked about if they were fans of Marvel comics to one of the most popular characters in the MCU franchise.

I actually think Loki's change is due to the debate on his appearance by two great artists about a decade ago.

Side one was Bryan Hitch's interpretation for Mark Millar of Loki in Ultimates 2. When I saw Loki revealed in his full glory I felt a moment of rapture thinking someone had captured in a Marvel comic an equivalent of Kaworu Nagisa's revelation as the last Angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was a young, dynamic Loki.

Side two was Esad Ribib's interpretation of Loki in his painted artwork miniseries. This was an old Loki, an ugly Loki with wrinkles and bad teeth.

I believe it is these two visual interpretations that have shaped the Loki character to this day and now in the same book.

[hawkeyefan]

Simonson's Thor.

[Marvel_Is]

The anger/rage trigger was first introduced way, WAY back in the mid 1960's in Tales to Astonish #60 by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko. It also had the Hulk reverting back to Banner when under a "heavy strain", which was dropped a few issues later.

Thank goodness that ended.

[jphamlore]

The anger/rage trigger was first introduced way, WAY back in the mid 1960's in Tales to Astonish #60 by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko. It also had the Hulk reverting back to Banner when under a "heavy strain", which was dropped a few issues later.

I think the Thor reverts back to a human if he loses contact with the hammer for 30 seconds weakness persisted far longer but it has as far as I remember not been seen for quite a while.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I think the Thor reverts back to a human if he loses contact with the hammer for 30 seconds weakness persisted far longer but it has as far as I remember not been seen for quite a while.

I haven't been caught up on Thor since the Jurgens/Romita Jr. run. I think I tried with JMS, but dropped it when the delays started.
I don't even know if he has a human form to revert to anymore...

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Al Milgrom taking the Hulk gray in issue #324; the title was on the verge of cancellation after Byrne left the book, nobody wanted it. Milgrom had the task of keeping the book afloat while Bob Harras (?) made rounds across the office for a permanent writer. This was pre-PAD, whose only interest in it before taking over the book for 12 years was a one-shot in issue #328.
Milgrom's run spanned 9 underrated issues, where he merged the separated Hulk & Banner back together, reverted the Hulk to his original gray-skinned color, created the Rick Jones Hulk and left it open for the new writer to continue with Rick as the Hulk or run with Banner as the Gray Hulk...not to mention kill Thunderbolt Ross and saw the debut of Todd McFarlane with issue #330.
We all know what happened next.
(This was also pre-multiple personalities Bruce Banner. The green-to-gray revision meant that there was less gamma radiation in Banner's body, as explained in HULK #326.)

[Lady Warp Spasm]

Bucky, of course. Also Simonson's Thor.

[mikeb]

Carol Danvers, having gone from "that nameless chick Rogue sucked the powers from" to one of the heaviest hitters on the Avengers thanks to some much-needed writers' attention and reinvention. She's not quite A-list yet, but Carol's in a much better standing now than ever before.

No, Carol Danvers went from being security chief at NASA in the original Captain Marvel series to superhero to Binary back to Warbird/Ms.Marvel to Captain Marvel. Carol has been reinvented multiple times in the last 45 years...